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Neuros Medical Inc. may have the cure for phantom limb pain.
By zapping a bundle of damaged nerves with quick bursts of electricity, the Willoughby company can eliminate all or most of the pain that remains long after someone loses a limb, according to results from two clinical trials.
Granted, both trials were small - combined, they included only 15 patients - and the second trial isn't quite finished.
But the results are consistent, CEO Jon Snyder said.
Most of the 15 amputees reported pain levels ranging from 6 to 8 on a scale of 10. Their pain typically dropped to a 0 or a 1 shortly after using Neuros Medical's Nerve Block technology, Mr. Snyder said.
One patient told Mr. Snyder the treatment allowed him to sleep through the night for the first time in years. Another no longer needed to take pain medication. And more than one patient said they weren't used to being pain-free.
"I'd ask them, When did you have zero pain before?' They'd say, 'never,' " he said.
The results have been so consistent that Neuros Medical's many investors could have the option of selling the company before it starts enrolling patients in a much larger pivotal trial, said Stephen Haynes, CEO of Glengary LLC, a venture capital firm in Beachwood that is one of Neuros Medical's many local investors.
But the investors could generate a bigger payout if they retain ownership, at least until the larger, 100-patient trial is complete, Mr. Haynes said.
How big might that payout be? Consider two previous deals involving local neurostimulation technologies.
NDI Medical LLC of Highland Hills sold its first product - an electrical stimulator designed to help people control their bladders - to Medtronic Inc. for $42 million in 2008.
Another company, Intelect Medical Inc., hit it big in 2011...